A Continental Shift
A magnificent passage in the story details the first meeting between Canadian tribesman and a rifle. And with that introduction, everything changes on two different continents. The singular significance is detailed in rich metaphorical imagery throughout such as this example which makes the simple act of making killing machine work into sheer poetry:
“And now he stands away from Bird, having shown him how to pour black sand and a shining rock down its throat.”
Conflict
The novel is one built up conflict which is constructed upon opposites. The natives of the Canadian wilderness versus the French intrusion into the New World sets the stage for this thematic opposition. Ultimately, however, the conflict boils down to what is considered necessary for human beings. But what if human beings themselves are not necessary?
“But there is nothing in this world that needs us for its survival. We aren't the masters of the earth. We're the servants.”
Catholics and Their Inquisition
There is one particular metaphor in this book spoken in reference to the Spanish Inquisition that is almost unlikely to be written—without irony—in reference to anything else. Only those trying desperately to contain and shape and form such a hideous legacy could possibly arrive at the following conclusion:
“To torture someone is to take control of death, to be the master of it, even for a short time.”
The Orenda
The “orenda” itself is a metaphor. A metaphorical synonym used by indigenous population to describe something quite similar to what their Catholic invaders from across the Atlantic term a soul.
“In matters of the spirit, these sauvages believe that we all have within us a life force that is similar, if you will, to our own Catholic belief in the soul. They call this life force the orenda.”
Simple Similes
The comparison made through the use of the simile is often the background of descriptive writing. It is on ample supply in the novel, used to pull forth from the past imagery which facilitates the modern reader’s backward travel through time:
“the siege ends for now, the sudden silence falling like a blanket over us. I watch Fox’s mouth move but I can’t hear him. It’s as if someone stuck cattails in my ears.”
